1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method of providing a call service in a portable terminal. In particular, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method of storing the unique number of a prepaid card via character recognition and providing a call service using the prepaid card number.
2. Description of the Related Art
A prepaid card refers to a card having a unique registered number for which the amount of money and a validity period are specified so that a user can call with the card up to the amount for the specified period. To make calls using the prepaid card, the user dials an access number (e.g. 00721) to access a switching center. After this primary connection, the switching center requests the prepaid card number through Automatic Response Service (ARS). The user then dials the prepaid card number (e.g. 2341007810) by pressing buttons. The switching center detects the card number and then requests a phone number to be called through ARS. When the user dials the phone number, the switching center attempts to connect a call.
The above-described conventional prepaid card phone service is a manual dialing scheme in which the access number is dialed to access the switching center, the prepaid card number is dialed for authentication in the switching center, and then the called number is dialed. Therefore, a lot of time is consumed to call and, inconveniently, dialing the called number using hot key dialing (and redialing) or a number table like a phonebook is not available.